“With this agreement we have precluded experiencing a large humanitarian crisis in Idlib,” Erdogan told reporters at the news conference with Putin.
“The opposition will continue to remain in the areas where they are. In return, we will ensure that the radical groups, which we will determine with Russia, will not operate in the area under discussion,” he said.
PREVENTING PROVOCATION
“Russia will surely take necessary precautions to ensure the Idlib de-escalation zone is not attacked. Together we will ensure the detection and the prevention of provocation by third parties and violations of the agreement.”
Ahead of the trip to Russia, Erdogan had said Turkey’s calls for a ceasefire in Idlib region were bearing fruit after days of relative calm but that more work needed to be done.
Putin this month publicly rebuffed a proposal from Erdogan for a ceasefire there when the two met along with Iran’s president for a three-way summit in Tehran.
Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, speaking earlier on Monday, said the Assad government was determined to drive the Nusra Front, which he described as a terrorist organization, from Idlib.
“Our government wants to give priority to reconciliation and to give all necessary measures in order to ensure safe corridors, and to secure the lives of civilians and to provide the basic needs of civilians in cooperation with U.N. humanitarian agencies,” Ambassador Hussam Edin Aala told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
